The Dreams We Had As Children Fade Away

Giovanni Reda gets sentimental for this July 2009 Skateboarder article covering a European trip by the Matix team. Photos also by Reda.

My Favorite Covers: February 2007 Skateboarder

Here's another one of my favorite covers: Brent Atchley boosting a frontside ollie off of a piece of warped concrete alongside the "flood-ravaged banks of the Mississippi" in New Orleans. Photo by Marc Falkenstien. I remember seeing this for the first time at the public library and being in awe of how high in the air he is, and thought it was really cool how Marc shot it so that you were looking at the concrete slab straight-on. Tosh Townend also had a photo here that was on the Contents page. This is definitely a spot that looks much easier to skate than it actually probably was.

Eating Elvis in the Canary Islands

This Jonathan Mehring feature of a trip to the Canary Islands was published in the August 2008 issue of Skateboarder. Not surprisingly, the article tells a wild story from the trip. It also features a lot of photos of Guy Mariano, which I remember being very stoked on back in 2008 when I first flipped through this magazine - especially the switch crook.

Jack Sabback - August 2008 interview

Jack's interview from the August 2008 issue of Skateboarder. Words by Jaime Owens and photos by Jonathan Mehring. I remember being stoked that he put Highway 61 Revisited on his list of records to listen to.

Steve Nesser - Loring Pyramid ollie

A February 2007 Adio ad featuring Steve Nesser ollieing the hip from the big bank to little bank on the Loring Greenway pyramid in Minneapolis. Photo by Ian O'Connor. I scanned this from Skateboarder, and you can see the clip here. 18 years later, local skaters are still getting tricks here.

Stranded with Clint Peterson

An unconventional interview feature with Clint Peterson, where his friends submitted questions and he answers them. Some are witty and some are silly, and some fall somewhere in between. Photos by John Bradford and art by Clint. Published in the October 2008 issue of Skateboarder. 

Clint was also on the cover of this issue.

photo: John Bradford

Jose Rojo - October 2008 interviews

Two brief interviews with Jose Rojo, his first for Skateboarder. The first one was performed by Adam Salo and the second one was by Matt Eversole. Photos by John Bradford, Kyle Camarillo, Gaston Francisco and Dan Z. Printed in the October 2008 issue.

"That was sketchy" - Geoff Rowley Vans ad

This October 2008 Vans ad of Geoff Rowley frontside 180ing between stacked cargo containers was & is truly shocking to look at. If he came up short on his ollie, he'd probably not get out of there alive. In my opinion, this is still one of the gnarliest things ever done on a skateboard. The clip is here. Photo by Ryan Allan.

How It Went Down: Hubba Hideout

From the October 2006 issue of Skateboarder. Words by Adam Salo and photo by Bryce Kanights. Reading this was the very first time I had heard of Hubba Hideout.

Smells Like Bigfoot's Dick: Streaking in the Land of the Rising Sun

An IPath trip to Japan article from the October 2006 issue of Skateboarder. Words and photos by Jonathan Mehring.

Garrett Hill's Pants

If you grew up skating in the 2000s, you already know which pants I'm talking about. In an October 2006 Osiris ad, Garrett did a 360 flip 50-50 on a handrail, a significantly tech trick whose impact was outdone by the controversy around the red-and-black pants he wore doing it. 

sequence: Jon Coulthard

Four years later, Garrett would address the uproar around said pants in his October 2010 And Another Thing feature in Skateboarder. I'm sure he's since talked about this again in more recent interviews as well.

Steve Nesser - STUCK cover & interview

Below is Steve's brief interview in the eleventh issue (2005) of STUCK Magazine, a contributor based publication out of Columbus, Ohio. I had never heard of it until Kevin from the Lookback Library offered to sell me this issue. The pages are 13 inches tall, exceeding the limit of my scanner, so the scans are not ideal but I tried as best I could. The interview was conducted by Pete Wenker and the photo credits are clearly in the images. The cover was shot by Joe Brook.